Being a retirement plan provider is tough. I know because as an ERISA attorney, I am one and I play on TV. There are many mistakes to be made as a retirement plan provider, so the point is to try to avoid as many mistakes as possible. One way to learn from mistakes is learning the mistakes of what other plan providers have done in the past. I always say that I work on my own because I worked for others and saw the glaring mistakes they made in running their business as retirement plan providers. So this article is about mistakes to avoid that other plan providers have made and based on the 11 years I worked for other retirement plan providers.